Recent content by jackle

Electron survival As I recall, particles like electrons always survive unless there is a suitable reaction they can undergo that allows them to disappear. This limits their options. Getting rid of their energy is just one problem they have. Energy and momentum have to be conserved...

Why there isn't "missing information" in QM First of all, can I ask you to be a little patient, because my years of performing quantum calculations are well and truly over. I write computer software for an insurance company now! I have noticed that every so often, a member of the public who...

You guessed right. Sorry for being lazy, I have tried to put it right by editing the original post.

Hi, I was watching a pop-sci TV program on heat recently. Specifically, it was about trying to reach the lowest temperature possible. I was trying to recall something I learned about the uncertainty principle being a barrier to reaching absolute zero. When I searched on the internet I got...

Thanks Morbius. This is probably everything I wanted to know.:smile:

This poll is purely to satisfy my curiousity "enforced secrecy" in this context means a legal obligation not to share information, such as having to sign an agreement. Which best describes your situation a) I never studied nuclear phyics b) I studied nuclear physics during a degree...

Do you still take philosophers seriously after they mention free will?

If you believe in an afterlife, a definition of awareness beyond biology seems essential. If we declare that only biological life can be aware, we seem to be declaring that there is no afterlife. I'm not at all convinced that machines can be conscious, or that everything is conscious in some...

True I disagree that chemicals have had a longer time to evolve than life. Chemicals don't evolve because survival of the fittest requires reproduction before it can operate. Chemicals only evolve in the sense that they change with time. I'd like to ask some questions that will help me...

None of the quoted definitions you gave in your initial post exclude AI except the one from biological psychology, which mentions animals. If Functionalism turns out to be correct, I do not see why an AI can not satisfy those definitions in principle. Functionalism...

This definition excludes artificial intelligence systems from being aware as they are not biological. Can you explain how a system must be biological to be conscious without using metaphysics?

Some analysis on your logic Your title suggests that you want someone to analyse your logic. I have taken the time to break down your reasoning and comment on it, but let me know if you didn't really want this. There are different models of the universe in physics. Some have the universe...

I'm not familiar with Terri Schiavo but presumably the same thing could be said about people in a coma. The soul seems to have the ability to switch off without being "lost". Consciousness seems to get tired, in the sense that we all need to switch it off sometimes (sleep). It could be a bit...

I'm not sure this is possible even in principle. My understanding of the medical definition of death is that death is something from which you can't return. If you come back you didn't die you had a NDE (by definition?). My guess is we have already passed the point some time ago of bringing back...

Perhaps the soul remains but is being suppressed by the brain damage to the extent that the soul doesn't operate anymore? This may seem like a fudge but it is really just an extension of the observation that the soul's ability to operate is dependent on the condition of the physical brain. eg...